Welcome to the eleventh episode of "Roostertail Talk". I interview the 2018 Gold Cup and Driver's champion Andrew Tate. I got a chance to talk about his racing career and involvement with his family, plus a few other fun questions. Enjoy!
Welcome to the eleventh episode of "Roostertail Talk". I interview the 2018 Gold Cup and Driver's champion Andrew Tate. I got a chance to talk about his racing career and involvement with his family, plus a few other fun questions. Enjoy!
It is September 3rd, 2018 the zip cell 11 and Brewster talk. I am your host David Newton and today you get to listen in on the interview I have with Andrew Tate, the 2018 national high point and Gold Cup champion. He is the driver of the, you won him Delta Railtrack and I talked with him Thursday of seafair right down in the pits. A just a little warning. There's going to be some background noise from everyone's setting up. All the, all the boats are down there. Everyone, all the crews were working, getting everything ready for the race as well as the officials and the staffing for sea fare. I believe at one point we had to pause because an ice cream truck drove through the pits. So that caused some, uh, some pretty good background noise. Um, but I had a great talk with Andrew. He is a very talented driver with a deep family history of boat racing. So sit back, relax and welcome to rooster. Hell talk
Speaker 2:[inaudible].
Speaker 3:What's Thursday of seafair weekend? I'm sitting on the media center overlooking the pits with Andrew T. Andrew, how are you doing today? I'm great. Happy to be here. Excellent. I understand. Since tri-cities, uh, you've been like relaxing this week on vacation, uh, how has Seattle treated you?
Speaker 4:I actually, I could live here. Yeah. I love the area, the people, the weather has been absolutely wonderful this week. So everything about[inaudible] Seattle and the Pacific north northwest has been a great experience for me and you know, this is that my Meyer four or five days in between tri-cities in Seattle to relax and get away from the real world. So that's great.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Awesome. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Well, I know you've been around boats for a long time, but not all the fans may know kind of your background and racing history. Uh, could you give the fans out there just a little information, how you started racing and what led you, um, to racing unlimited to your last few years?
Speaker 4:Raleigh mostly been an outboard guy. Uh, I grew up, I started in j hydro when I was 11 years old and you can start racing j Hydros when you're nine years old. Um, but I have a brother who's two years older than me, so my, my parents obviously didn't want to get me going too soon. We waited for, uh, for my brother to reach the nine year old mark and I was 11 at the time, so I would race on Saturdays and he would race on Sundays with the j hydro where we kind of split seat time. And you, that's, that's where I started. Um, my first race was in Trenton, Michigan and had a lot to learn starting starting out there. You start as a mark Tate's on the limited driver and you show up in the pits and anything kind of watching other boats or classes go around and go, this is easy. They're going slow. I can do this. It's, man, I had a, well, it's really competitive.
Speaker 3:Alport's yeah, it's, it's a super, super competitive field.
Speaker 4:Super competitive and super humbling. Yeah. I by no means was where I was at in my head when I started, so it was a great experience. Uh, I've raised outboards throughout my career. Unfortunately it's some of the bigger boats. They boards in the unlimited to take take precedents as I've gotten older, so I don't do it as much, but um, it's, it's still a great thing to do. Um, started racing inboards in 2011 I started driving two and a half mods for the English family out of Louisiana. John[inaudible], John Stocker, um, wouldn't haul, didn't have a canard wing, but still very, very fast equipment and there was a great family and a drive for I think going from the outboards, the inboards, there's a lot of people in the outboard category that might not get that opportunity. My last name and some of my family connections obviously had a little bit to do with that, so I'm very grateful for that. Um, I raised for the English family up until through 2017. We ended up going Grand Prix racing after four years of just driving the two and a half mod and I had never driven a boat with a canard wing, uh, up until, uh, the Grand Prix class and really John Sada, Curtis, not a big fan of canard wings. So he built boats and set boats up to run without them. Something different I guess. But um, got into Grand Prix in 2015 out on the east coast with the English family and raised for them up until the past couple of seasons. Now I've been involved with her motorsports and my dad's kind of been overseeing that program and that's been a little bit of a struggle. But, um, 2015, I had a great year with the Grand Prix team and the English family had the chance to win our first race in Tonawanda and uh, I guess some people might've taken note. Uh, the next year I received the opportunity to come drive for the Jones family and Jeff and Mike Campbell kind of sought me out. So it's a lot of, uh, personal relationships that, that, that might've had something to do with me getting here. Um, a little bit of talent and a lot of luck, I'm sure. But that's more or less how it all happened. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I know you have the name t, everyone knows mark t so you do have that legacy light as you said, but I really believe your talent really got you where you are and continue to, to have you in your seat. Last year you were national champion, uh, won the Gold Cup one and other races around the circuit one here last year. Um, but one thing I've really noticed with you, you're, you've really shown your talents at flying the hall. Like you, you fly the boat every race I've seen you at, uh, you keep around the edge but you maintain your CFP and the speed. Um, does that something that's come really natural to you over the years? And I was surprised to hear that you've first time having canard was when you're entering Grand Prix. So it seems like you've been doing this for a long time, but is this something someone helps you out with or is this natural talent to be able to fly the boats so easily as easily as a spectrum can see at least I know it's not easy.
Speaker 4:It's, it's, you know, the city of your pants is kind of the greatest asset when you get into a boat with this much weight and power behind it as a grand Prix or, and unlimited hydroplane. Um, and obviously I've had my father throughout my racing career in my corner able to coach me and answer questions and uh, always give input and feedback, which has been very, very beneficial to success and, and, and adapting to different classes and understanding what the boat's going to do. And if you change something, what is it going to change within the boat ride? Are your top speed or cornering ability, whatever it might be. I, I think the u nine or the u one now, originally the u nine is, is set up to fly. Uh, that is when this boat is happiest. 27 year old boat and it's a little narrower than most of the other ones on the circuit. It's, it's got some nuances or characteristic traits that other boats might not have. Um, but I truly believe that that more or less the boat and the way it's been set up is fit. I guess with me. Okay. More or less me coming in and being able to adapt to the boat. It's the only unlimited I've ever driven a, it's all I know up until this point. So you know it the city or pants and, and what you're feeling on the steering wheel and then reading water and what's coming up in front of you. It'll kind of plays into what you're doing and how you're driving the boat. But I know 2015 when I was, I had first started driving the grand prixs, I think it was a leased boat. So the city of Valleyfield actually owned it. Okay. And there was a lot of people that were worried hole was twofold. I think there's people who were, and I was going to go out there and kill myself or hurt the boat. And then there was the other people said, oh, you know, he's only here because of who he is and where he came from. So halfway through the season when we were in Tonawanda to go out there and get a win and, and fly the boat over the Niagara River and beat guys like for Henderson or Kevin Brody or Marty Wolf, Brandon Kennedy. I mean that was probably one of my proudest moments. That was like, that only did at that point that I realized that I could do this. But I think it was kind of like a welcoming, welcoming party to some extent to where some of the critics might have closed their vowels and oh, definitely. All the other people who may have believed in me kind of kind of felt that pride fullness or like, yeah, we told you, you guys kind of deal. So that was cool. Yeah.
Speaker 3:FAFSA, will you even press a lot of people so far in your time and hide your planes? I'm like, I got to ask, I don't know how old you are, but are you or is the boat the Jonesville older. I have a, I have a feeling the boats older, but uh, the boat is two years younger than me. Okay. All right. I thought it was the other way around.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're a, I'm starting to get some gray hairs if that says anything about how old vote is.
Speaker 3:All right. Well, as we said before, everyone knows Mark Tate, your father, um, and even around boats one time. So I know you have a lot of favorite memories. Uh, maybe not just racing yourself, but just being around the boats and seeing your father race. Uh, do you have one or two that stick out in your mind being a kid, seeing the sport unfold for you? Honestly, honestly,
Speaker 4:as a little kid I probably didn't appreciate everything that was going on around me racing wise to the extent that I should have. Um, but that's natural for most kids. Yeah. I think they don't appreciate what's really happening in front of them to some extent. Um, I think I was a little more interested in going to play in the bounce house and climb the rock wall and raise the remote control nascars that they used to have in Detroit. Um, than if, if I were to reflect back upon where my head was at compared to where Carson Kelly's heads heads at Jay Michaels. Yeah. Yeah. Cause he is all over it. And when he is a boat racing freak, uh, and I think he's going to be a household name here come another 10, 15 years. But, but um, favorite memories, you know, try cities. One of my big things when I'd show up to tri-cities or even Seattle here was there was always a guy who had little wooden hydro planes and some of them were painted like replicas of the boats that were racing or boats the years past or just weird random colors. And I'd always look forward to coming out here as a little kid. Yeah. So coming up the tri-cities in Seattle to have look forward to it because I'd always be able to come home with a new toy, a new little, little wooden boat to play with. And in those days I always had a Winston Eagle, Bo, my dad's or smoking job. Um, but my father's, um, and then there'd always be, uh, a Budweiser boat that we would have to, but that boat somehow just never had the rear wing or was scraped and scraped up and had paints and paint missing because that'd be in the, in the motor home or the trunk plying with them at Oh, smoking Joe's and Budweiser. We're going into the first turn and there goes the Budweiser and I chuck it over my shoulder. Just, I hadn't, that's a terrible thing to say. Obviously you never want to see anyone get hurt, but as no four or five, six year old, you know, they're big red boat that always won was the bad guy. Right. So that is, uh, a distinct memory for sure. Plan playing with the little wooden boats or tying it behind the big wheel. I had a little tristaple that we ride around the pits and tie the plastic ones behind the boat and me and my brother would race around in circles and yeah, you know, that was a great time as well. So that's very funny. Whenever the boats would start and we'd hear the boats entering the racecourse, we'd just get up off the bikes and leave'em wherever they were in the pits and we'd run to the shore so we could go watch. So we were always involved with the racing, but we always had a great time just being here and, and kind of living in our own world or own little kid, imagining legendary world that having our own fun with it. Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker 3:Well that's a memory I had as well growing up as a kid. And I had Brian Anderson does the name of the fellow Pete. Yeah. He builds him out here. He still does that today. He still brings them out and sells them on the shorelines there. But I had a Winston Eagle lobster boats. Not Not your father's, but those that Jim crop field once in Eagle. And I would push it around and they would crash and there was
Speaker 4:blue marks, all of the wings and stuff. So it probably worked better than the real one. Oh yeah, it did. It flooded really well on the carpet floor I had. There you go.
Speaker 3:Okay. All right. Well, um, this, this past year you've had a transition in your team in the last year. You had a phenomenal year when the Gold Cup, uh, national championship and some other races, uh, that your, your crew members will recruit you if Jeff Campbell and his brother Mike Campbell retired from racing. Uh, so I know you've had a transition a year. Um, as far as the crew crew members go, how has that gone for yourself and for the team?
Speaker 4:Honestly, I think it's gone really well. Uh, Jeff and Mike Campbell can and never will be replaced. I mean, they were on the Budweiser team nor American. The, there's so much knowledge and so much passion and experience. You'll never replace that. Um, they've built a hell of a race boat, rebuilt a hell of a race boat and continued to improve a hell or race boat here with Jones racing. Um, and the people that, that are around the team still in 2019 are people who have studied and been around Jeff and[inaudible]. So a lot of that knowledge and experience has been passed down, not only to them, but to me. I mean, now I'm in the truck looking at the data and different numbers and maybe ways we can change the boat, uh, and giving my feedback. And they may not be at the races, but I was on the phone with Jeff last weekend in Tri cities. You know, the boat's doing this. This is where we're at in my opinion. We can do option a, B, or C. I think a is our best. Here's why. P is this. And I, and I can talk through what I'm feeling and what the boat's doing and where we're at and how we can improve. And Jeff's always made himself available to, to help me and help guide me so they're not necessarily here. Uh, giving 100% of the direction or focus of what we're doing, but they're still around here. They're, uh, they're not gone, that's for sure. I think, uh, tonight I'll go home and I talked to Seth powershell who was mostly in the truck and on the computer in years past and, and looking at the data and dissecting that or understanding that. But he is always been very inquisitive and always curious about what Jeff is doing or what Mike is doing and why they're doing it. So I don't think we've really lost a stent. I think we've maintained and now we're all gaining firsthand experience. So, you know, come next year or the year after or whatever it might be. The only way to keep going here and you're out is to pass that knowledge down and to allow other people to gain that experience. So in the long run, I think Jeff and Mike taking a step back was one they need to do. They've done this their whole lives. Um, they need some time to themselves to go enjoy maybe some of the other things or hang out at home on the weekend with their wives and, and Oh, definitely. And, and uh, enjoy some of the other aspects of life we all do. But with Seth and Brian, good and Mark Pacet, I mean Tom Alphona, the guys that have stepped up and been a part of our team this year, giving them that firsthand experience and that firsthand knowledge is, is been a longer and going to benefit not only the u nine or the u one team this year, but, but the sport as a whole.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well it shows two things to me, how fantastic your crew is that they were able to apply their knowledge that was taught and their own knowledge to maintain the team and keep it a front runner. But also it shows how good of a teacher is. Mike and Jeff Campbell were that they can step and
Speaker 4:the there, I don't want to say proteges, but the people that were surrounding them can apply their knowledge and imply their own taste to it and keep up the team as a front runner. Yeah. Jeff and Mike had their own way of teaching. Um, and between the two of them, they were, they're very different people, but they had their own way. And to know that they're still there is huge. So I can't thank them enough for what they've done for me and the Jones and the sport.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Awesome. Well, um, another thing that we'll talk about from last year, you won the Gold Cup, your first goal and just, I think it's very, uh, symbolic or meaningful because it's something you share with your father. How was it to win it in Detroit, your hometown, and have your father share their experience with it? It was very special. Uh, and I think[inaudible]
Speaker 4:taking a step back and looking back at what we accomplished as a team and as a family. Uh, you know, I'm very proud of it, but I'm more happy of that success and that accomplishment for my grandmother, my father and my mother, my brother. You know, people that, that I've been surrounded with my whole life that, you know, they've made sacrifices to even make that a possibility. It without them, it definitely wouldn't be possible. You know, my mom, my mom spent her life making my life as easy as it could be. Right. You know, I think a lot of people could go back and look and say that about their mothers. Um, but to see how happy they were when we were standing next to the trophy, taking pictures, it was special. And you know, when I came back to the dock, it was almost like another boat race. That's how I, how I looked at the boat race before I go out there. You know, it's a Gold Cup, right? Biggest race of your life, but it's just another boat race. You have to do everything the same. You can't change anything. Okay. The results worked out. You know, you brought it home. You want, that's what you're supposed to do. Yeah, as a competitor and as a driver, that is where my mindset is. You know, you're supposed to go out there and do the best you can with the equipment you have. And I think we had a gold cup winning boat last year, this year and the year previously. But last year was when we put it all together. Um, so to see the crew and, and my family was when it all hit, you come back to the doc and you're excited obviously because you did your job. Yeah. But then to see their faces and how much it meant to them is, is truly what, what made it a big deal. Um, and to me, all I've ever really known besides the one year where, well in my adult life, at least the one year they ran and try cities for the Gold Cup. But Detroit has always been the Gold Cup as far as I'm concerned, nothing against tri cities and when they had it the one year or Madison when to race there this year. But that's just what I've always known. Yeah. Um, obviously it's great to have other venues host, but to win it in Detroit was the icing on the cake. Friends, family, hometown. It was, it was special for all of us.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's a special time in your life. He'll probably always cherish and remember. So it sounds like your family is super supportive of the decision she made to enter racing and continuum. Has that always been that case
Speaker 4:for sure. Uh, fourth-generation boat racer great-grandfathers started racing in the 30s, I believe. Uh, my uncle Casey, my grandfather Joe, my father mark and then also my mother sandy raised one 40 fives out in California, all over the country. She's originally from California. That's how she met my father, who was boat racing. And so I think if you look at it, I was born into it more or less bred to do this. So, um, their understanding with, with, with where my mindset's at and, and why I love this, that obviously is very easy for them to see. Uh, and I think every one of the pits, whether their first, second or third generation boat race or fourth, you know, you name it, they have to have a supporting cast that allows them to go do this weekend or week out. Oh, for sure. So when we're in the pits, we're all one big family, more or less, I'm going to be pissed off at each other, you know, depending on what happens out on the race course weekend and week out. But we all have a certain respect for each other and, and allow each other to compete at a high level. Do this together.
Speaker 3:Awesome. All right, well we talked about some serious stuff. Let's talk about some not as serious things. One question I've been asking all of the drivers, um, and I've interviewed so far is if they were to play a theme song as you entered the course, you got in your boat, just got on the water and they put a theme song a similar to what they do in baseball. So I'm sure if you went to the Detroit Tigers game that they as a batter's come out, they play a theme song. What would your theme song be as the Jones' racing went on the horse?
Speaker 4:Well, last year we were able to pick a song to where they would play over the PA in Detroit or if we won and came by in the corvette, wave to the crowd, they can play it. Okay. I chose my way by Frank Sinatra. Uh, okay. All right. More or less as a salute to my grandfather, frank was his artists and that was his favorite song. He had a boat named my way. So for, for the family to hear that song and watching me drive by and the corvette was pretty cool. It was emotional. My mom walked up to me and gave me a big hug and she was all excited and you know, it's like, all right mom, you need to go away before I start crying in front of all these people. But it was cool. Uh, if I had to pick another song. Yeah. So if I had to pick something that wasn't super sentimental to me and had a lot of meaning to me in my family, uh, and that just had to look at it from a personal standpoint. There was a song by j Roddy Walston in the business called the brave man's death. And the chorus essentially of the song is, I don't want to die in the middle of the night. I want a brave man's death. So if I had to listen to a song before I got into the boat, that's the one listening to do. Um, I don't have at this time a wife or kids hired, just have to look at myself in the mirror and, and okay, you know, we're doing something dangerous here. We are going out there and we're going to put it on the line and we're going to give it everything we have. Obviously, you never hope for the worst, but at the same time, you have to recognize that what we do is dangerous. Uh, things happen. People get hurt. Uh, but this is what I know. This is what I love. This is the pinnacle of what I could be doing. Right. So in order to do that, to the best of my ability, everything else is out the window. It's me and the machine and my competitors. Let's drop the minutes and go at it here. There we go. There. Well like your, like your song collection. I'm not sure what I need to talk to to get that done, but I think that'd be a fun for the fans to hear those songs. Yeah, for sure. If you know, let me know how about that. Uh,
Speaker 3:another game I want to start playing is, um, I don't know if you're in college days or played who you would marry or kill. Yeah, barely half kill. Yeah, I'll pay the hydroplane version. I'll give you three drivers name and we're not going to consider those options. But I would say if you could choose who would be your crew chief, your radio spotter, and who had raced against, so I'm thinking chip Hanauer, Mark Tate and Steve David. So who would you be your crew chief Redis fodder. And who would you rate it?
Speaker 4:You know, this is tough. Someone actually asked me last weekend. Okay. Straight up. If you had even boats and you went out there, who would, when you're, your dad just kind of took a step back and my eyes got a little big and it was like, Oh man, I don't know if you ask my dad for sure be him. Um, but with that said, I'm going to go with Mark Tate as my crew chief on the premise that I grew up driving outboards for him. I'm currently driving a cram pre forum and I know what I'm getting with him as far as boats set up a feedback knowledge base and no, he's worked very, very closely with Jim o Sero and Mike Hanson, um, to, to get that understanding of, of the boats and setups. So our dad is not the most cultured person in the world are the smartest guy in the world. But there's two things that he is absolutely 100% usually dead nots on with. And that's the coding business. Tecplot for polymer proteins, which we do back home and uh, setting up race boats. He sees things yes. From the shore that it's like, man, yeah, that's exactly what the boat's doing. Half a mile away telling me what the boats doing. It's like, yeah, you're right. So I know what I'm getting there. Not all, not always the easiest person to drive for by any means, but, but I know what I'm[inaudible] yeah, I'll[inaudible] radio spotter. So do you have chip[inaudible] or Steve David[inaudible] spotter. Then you've got to race the other person. Steve David always gave great speeches. Okay. There was always able to appease sponsors and crowds. I think I'd put him on my radios just for his communication skills. Yeah. I know for a fact where he brings to the table there and he's won a lot of boat races, so he's obviously understands what his competitors are doing and what's going on around him. Oh yeah. Um, I think that gets a little easier for me than trying to figure out what my dad would do. Um, so then you gotta race against chip then I would absolutely love the chance to race against Japan or I think that would be great. Yeah. Um, growing up, he raised it. That's my father and I got to watch those two have great, great battles. Um, typically the red boat came out on top, but, but there was always not always[inaudible] them every once in a while for sure. Always pushing him, always giving them a race. And you know, chip has very, he has a very similar background, I think, too, to where he came from, boat racing wives starting in the outboards and growing up in the limited hydroplanes and, and then getting into unlimited[inaudible] at a relatively young age and having some sort of immediate, immediate success. So, yeah. You know, he was somewhat, to my father's dismay, also my favorite driver as a kid. So to be able to have the opportunity to race against him would be something special for me. Yeah. All right. Very cool.
Speaker 3:Well, I know a lot of athletes, it's not just how you've been raised with, with athletes and different sports, they're superstitious. Um, and that, that is something that I have seen typical in hydroplane racing. Jim Kronfeld always had to choose some ice, put you out in the field. Uh, crew members hated seeing watermelon. Sonic. Never heard about the watermelon thing, but,
Speaker 4:but she had that. Yeah, I know. Not me personally, but the camels, no watermelon allowed all weekend. Yeah. Not Around the campsite. So do you have any, uh, personal, like routines or superstitions that you carry something to bring you good luck? Uh, I think I pull my hair. Nothing particular. Uh, I do like 20 minutes, 15 minutes, half hour, whatever it might be. Whenever I can get away, you know, I'll, I'll disappear, I'll go sit somewhere by myself. I'll usually put my elbows in my lap and my hands on my forehead or for whatever reason, I have no idea, but just start thinking about what I'm going to do when I'm out there, where I need to be, who I'm racing against. And you start to visualize yourself holding race course. Uh, almost like a zen meditation type deal. You know, I'm not all that spiritual. Um, but, but no, nothing in particular. I do have the terrible habit of chewing tobacco. Uh, I don't know if we should edit this out or not. How many people want to know about that or might go down a couple of notches and a couple of people's book. But it started with hockey and it was the cool thing to do. I played junior hockey and it was more of a get your skates on your pants and your Shin Pads, you know, you're halfway dressed and then it's the same thing. Uh, grizzly wintergreen goes in and, and my head goes into my hands, the palm of my hands and I'm thinking about what I'm doing when I go out there as more or less of relaxing, disappear from the rest of the locker room and not talk to the guys and joke around like, like some guys might or get too serious, like some guys might, but that's how that started. So between the two now I just like to be left on my own and not have to have any outside interference, I guess get in my own head and worry about myself.
Speaker 3:Okay. Alright. Alright, good. Well the, each one's who are, this is a bit shorter now. There's only five races this year. Um, there's a lot of race courses that we used to see on there. Um, is there one in particular that you wish you could race on and go to? I know there's a lot of them we can email, but, uh, is there any in your mind that you wish you could, can race on all of them?
Speaker 4:The more the merrier. Yeah. Um, I've heard great things about Colona. Uh, the race site. It's a party. The people, um, the water itself, the racecourse, I've heard great things. I've never personally been, but that would be something cool. I've never been to Hawaii, maybe as a baby when my dad was there, but I don't personally remember it. I want to pick that just from the trip itself. Yeah, it would be great to go to Hawaii and race and Pearl Harbor there and, and a historical meaning more or less. I'm a big history buff, so I think that would be cool. Evansville, great race course. Uh, a lot of history there as well. You know, all of them. Like I said, uh, five races isn't enough. I think the more we can do this kind of stuff and you can get together and talk about the great things in the sport and uh, hopefully attracts them interest. I think I'm down for wherever you want to go. Washington DC racing for the President's Cup didn't shake the president's hand after you won the president's Cup, you know? Great honor. That would be something extremely special. Milwaukee, Wisconsin because I have outboard friends there that, that haven't had the chance to see how unlimited and to go there and race in Milwaukee would be cool. You know, Miami Marine Stadium on another place that has a great boat racing history and in a lot of cool things that happened down there. Not only for boat racing but just having the stadium there and doing the concerts. I mean Elvis Presley did a movie down there, Elvis race, flat bottoms and Ulnar. If anyone knew that go go watch a movie called clambake. It's a Corny as all hell. But Elvis was about, rates are at one point. So I mean just there's a lot of places, there's a lot of history. It's a great sport. And so many great stories behind different race sites. So the more the merrier. Like I said, hopefully we can get back to some of those in the near future. Right. That'd be great for a lot of fans and a brief for the racing community. Um, well before I let you go, I know you got stuff to do to prepare for the weekend. Do you have any advice for drivers hoping to get into the sport and get frilly of their careers into hydroplane racing advice? Be Nice to everyone. Be Nice. I mean boat racing more than ever is a very small community and to be empathetic and, and understand people's situations. Um, compared to your own or you know, if you get hacked off in the first turn, your first instinct more than anything it might be to, you know, go bump into the guy or give them the middle finger and inspection or tell them all about how batty sucks. So don't watch NASCAR. Right? I mean everything you do, someone is going to see and that someone knows someone who could potentially help you at some point. If it's not that person who is watching you at that time. Um, we're all a family here. Like I said earlier, and everything that happens is taken note of and no matter how big or how small, just be very mindful of that and get good starts. Keep your head down, go testing, keep learning, ask questions. I mean, it's no different than anything else in life and use your resources, the people around you and, and continue to grow every time you get in the boat. See, time in boat racing is so invaluable. I mean it's, it's ridiculous. Like you said, we have five races and you're on let's say four to five heats a weekend, depending on where you're at. I've been in this boat 25 to 30 times a year. Yeah. So every time you get in that boat, it's telling you something, whether it's good, bad, and different, that boat is talking to you. You need to listen to it more than anything. Understand not only how to drive it at that current moment, but how to make it better when you come into the shore. How to give feedback to people that are helping you, whether it's the prop guy or the engine guy, or if you're there with your trailer on top of your van to sit down at the end of the day and understand what you did out there and how to get better. Yeah, I could go on, I'm sure. But um, you know, be nice. Be Nice. That's a greatness. Be Nice. Have Fun, have fun.
Speaker 3:Well, you're, you're young into your unlimited career here and you've already made a big splash with all your victories in national championship last year. What's your goal for your longterm goal for racing unlimited? Have you already accomplished all your, all you wanted to do and you stop more you want to do with it?
Speaker 4:There's, that's a tough question. That's a good question. I'd like to go wherever the sport will allow me to go. I think, like I said, I'm a history buff, so if I look back at names like Steve, David, Dave, Bill, walk, mark, Tay, chip Hanauer, then back to bill Muncie. It goes on. And I know I missed people who are, who are people's favorites or who people think are the greatest, but Oh, we can save 20 minutes and we'd still miss them. Yeah. For sure. Names the things that they may or may not have accomplished in their careers at this point with where we're at right now. May or may not. I'll let you guys be the decide of that. Have to be measured with a different state a little bit differently. Um, not only with the amount of races, um, but also the amount of competition, the amount of things they had to do outside of the boat with sponsors and the PR stuff. It's a little bit of a different atmosphere nowadays. Um, so if I was sitting here and tell you, well, I want to be the greatest ever and Jimmy Shane's are in Jamelle Kelly are already had a headstart on me there. Um, if we were going to use the same measuring stick compared historically, uh, you know, I don't know that we can make those comparisons. Like, that's a tough question and you know, I don't want to put my foot in my mouth and piss people off, but I enjoy the racing aspect of it and there's, we all have day jobs. We're all making sacrifices to be here and to do this. Um, and I don't know where to go from there. It's, it's, it's tough. It's tough. There's days where sometimes see stock Hydros is just as fun as what I'm doing now. Right. And that is by no means trying to discredit a talent or, or competition of what's going here. But sometimes being able to show up Friday night with your boat and your truck and trailer and set it up at eight in the morning the next day by yourself and going out there and racing against 20 guys is different angle fun, I guess different perspective. I'd always liked to be involved in this sport. To what level? I don't know. Unlimited Hydro points are the pinnacle of what we're doing. Whether or not I'm always going to be at the pinnacle, I don't know. So I don't really know how to answer your question. I can see around for for quite a while at least. So hopefully you don't go anywhere to anything about that. Time will tell. Time will tell. All right. All right, well you got to repeat this year. You're, you're the top dog, right? You're one last year and I wish you luck this weekend and I hope you Shay safe. Yeah, I love to see for, I love being here. I've mentioned the history of time. I know, but it's, it's a special place and I love the race course. I know some of the other drivers might say it's not their favorite place to race, but it's a short race course. It's a symmetrical race course. The water super unforgiving. Yeah, just the atmosphere with the people in the air show and everything going on. The whole city's involved. So thanks for the line one. Glad. I'm glad that it's here. You like it. Cause I think every interview I saw of your father here in Seattle, so he hated the course because it was so rough. It was almost undriveable. So we're glad to have you here, Andrew and the black this weekend and be safe. Hey, thanks everyone for their support and listening to the show and a go. You one slash nine felt a real track.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope you enjoyed listening in on my interview with Andrew t and our 11th episode of Rich Talk. I really enjoyed talking with him and learning more about his racing career. He a fantastic driver with a great future ahead of himself and I can't wait to see where it takes him. Make sure you check back with us next week as our next episode will be released Tuesday, September 10th at 5:00 AM Pacific Standard Time. Also, don't forget to hit that subscribe button on your podcast player as well as rate and review your experience for more updates in hydro news. Check us out on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We're still talk is also online with our new website, www.roostertailtalk.com on the website, you can sign up for an email subscription list to get notifications on upcoming episodes, hydro news, podcast updates, and much, much more. Finally, this is a free podcast, all of our listeners, but if you're really enjoying your experience, listening to Rochelle talk and want to help us to continue to grow and expand our content, please donate. You can find a link to donate through paypal on our website under the support tab. So until next time, I hope to see you at the races.[inaudible].